In the present disclosure, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which the present disclosure is concerned.
A golf course is an area containing a plurality of holes for golf gameplay. The holes are often associated with a plurality of flagsticks, which can be positioned adjacent to the holes or positioned in the holes. The flagsticks are structured for visibility from afar.
At the course, a player usually attempts to strike a golf ball with a golf club into one of the holes, as visibly identified via one of the flagsticks associated therewith. Before such strike, the player usually desires to know how far the one of the holes is from the player's current location. Knowing such distance can be helpful in selecting proper golf club, golf ball, swing posture and/or swing type.
Such distance determination has been typically performed via the player observing the one of the flagsticks from the player's current location and mentally calculating a distance based at least in part on such personal observation. However, in recent years, due to advances in mobile technology, some players began to use rangefinders for such distance determination. Although somewhat helpful, the rangefinders are expensive to purchase and/or to maintain. Furthermore, some players object to bringing the rangefinders along due to potential interference with walking, rangefinder maintenance, such as lens cleaning and/or batteries, and in general, just extra equipment to think about.
Although some mobile device technologies have been devised for informing the player of the player's current location and where the golf course's boundaries are, no mobile device technologies are available to inform the player of how far the one of the flagsticks is from the player's current location, especially since flagstick placement changes periodically, such as on a daily basis. Further, although some golf cart technologies allow for informing the player of how far the one of the flagsticks is from the player's current position, such technologies require golf cart operation, which can be complex, unsafe, unavailable and/or costly to purchase and/or to maintain. Moreover, not all golf courses are equipped with golf carts. Additionally, the golf carts are not operable in all golf courses at all times, whether due to golf course terrain conditions, course restrictions and/or bad weather conditions. Furthermore, the player usually strikes the ball at a distance from the golf cart, which hinders relatively accurate flagstick distance determination. In addition, the player often lacks a direct line of sight to the one of the flagsticks, whether due to golf course terrain conditions and/or golf course restrictions. Such inability often impedes the player's ability to determine the one of the flagsticks distance and/or direction. Also, when the one of the flagsticks is far from the player such that the player strikes the ball several times to reach the green of the golf course, the player can have difficulty in strategical placement of the player's first few strikes due the player's lack of advanced knowledge of the golf course's layout.
While certain aspects of conventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate the present disclosure, no technical aspects are disclaimed. The claims may encompass at least one of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.